One Little Mishap
by singingrain
Summary: OneShot. KibaShinoKiba. Everyone knows you should never, ever give Shino Red Bull. Kiba just found out the hard way.


**Title: One Little Mishap**

**Warnings: Yaoi, crack-ness, cliché parts of the plot, slight random angst-y-ness, cliché use of rain**

**Disclaimer: No owny Naruto and never will.**

**Other Warnings: Please excuse the pathetic attempts at humor. I try, I really do. Also, this plot was conceived in the deliriousness of sleep deficiency. Oh boy, here we go…**

"K-Kiba! What a-are you d-doing?" Hinata cried accusingly. The boy froze mid-motion; he was currently in the process of handing over a Red Bull to his other teammate, Shino.

They had been traveling for days, and Kiba had already downed several to keep going. After all, Akamaru was badly injured; it was all he could do to stay sane. The dog-ninja turned to Hinata, confusion written plainly on his features.

"What? We're tired. How bad can he be even if he gets hyper? Anyway, a hyper Shino is like, well… a normal person," he tried explaining.

But while Kiba's head was turned to face Hinata, Shino snatched the can from his friend's hand. Hinata looked on in horror as Shino opened it and took a big gulp of the energy drink. Shino let out a Tarzan-like yell, and then ran off, quickly but clumsily, into the vast forest the team was currently in.

---

After getting over his initial shock at seeing his normally stoic friend go stark raving mad, Kiba grabbed Hinata's arm and pursued the bug-master until he found him in a clearing. Granted, this was a feat considering the injured canine in his arms, but Kiba wasn't an Inuzuka for nothing.

Shino was sitting in a patch of grass, stroking the Red Bull can softly and murmuring sweet nothings to it, pressing it against his face.

Kiba shifted slightly in his position in the bush he and Hinata were hiding behind to make Akamaru more comfortable and to get a better look at his crazed teammate.

"What's wrong with him?" Kiba worriedly whispered to the Hyuuga crouched beside him. The dog-nin was frowning, and his brow was creased. "I've definitely never seen him like this before."

"Y-You gave h-him Red B-Bull," she stated, as if it were obvious. Kiba let out an exasperated sigh.

"So?"

Hinata glanced over at him with her pale eyes, looking surprised.

"I-I thought everyone k-knew n-n-not to give S-Shino Red Bull. It's a-always done t-this to h-him," she informed the shinobi next to her.

In the clearing, Shino jerked his head in their direction, at last noticing their presence.

"It's ok, my juice, I won't let the mean people take you," he growled fiercely, glaring daggers at the pair that had stood up sheepishly at being spotted.

Shino then, doing a complete change of moods, cradled the drink in his arms, singing and cooing lightly to it.

"I like juice, juice is good. Juice, juice, juice. Good, good juice…" he purred.

Kiba, being either stupid or courageous, or maybe both, took a precarious step toward the dark-haired boy, hoping to correct his earlier mistake by taking away the source of Shino's craziness.

"Shino," he said softly, not wanting to scare the sugar-high ninja as he reached out with a tentative hand, "That's not juice; it's Red Bull."

Unfortunately, that was the wrong thing to say, for when Shino heard this he leapt backward with an indignant shout.

"It's juice!" he screamed, before running away.

Kiba started to follow, but Hinata put one of her delicate hands on his shoulder, holding him back.

"Just let him go," she said, surprisingly without her stutter, "He's too far gone…"

She peered out into the distance, a faraway look in her eyes.

---

Meanwhile, Shino had found his way out of the forest after fumbling around for awhile. He started heading in a direction where he thought the nearest village lay.

Lush green landscape abruptly turned to desolate sand on his trek, and after a short while he met the sand-sib team; after all, he was on the outskirts on Suna.

When he saw them, he immediantly latched onto Kankuro like a Flying Leech of Konoha (1), and screamed in a high pitched voice, "Bunny!"

He playfully batted one of Kankuro's costume's "ears" before he was knocked flying through the air by Temari with her closed fan.

The Amazing Flying Leech of Konoha was back in action!

---

After being airborne for quite a while, Shino landed with a thud in someone's living room, completely smashing through their ceiling. He bounced slightly when he landed, and even though he thoroughly smooshed the couch he crashed upon, it broke his fall quite nicely.

He looked around quickly from his position on the remains of the couch, jerking his head from side to side. The style of furniture seemed to indicate that he was back in Konoha, and the house was unoccupied besides the boy who had fallen from the sky. The room was covered in debris and a white chalky powder from the impromptu sky-lighted ceiling.

Shino sat up, dusting himself off of the powder that had settled on his clothes. The front door opened at that instance, and a very bewildered Kiba walked into his now destroyed house. Kiba had finally made it home after delivering the mission report and dropping off Akamaru to the local vet.

Kiba's grip on his travel-worn bag faltered as the scene before began to sink in, and his jaw dropped.

He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times with his arms hanging limp, like a fish gasping when pulled out of water.

Shino stared, wide-eyed behind his glasses, then said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and attempting to explain, "Uh… I tripped…"

"Onto and through my ceiling?" Kiba asked incredulously, regaining his composure slightly.

"I… tripped over an… acorn," Shino blurted out the first thing that came to mind, then brushed past the confused boy who was still gawking a bit, and ran out of the close by front door.

Once outside, he screamed, "Freedom!" and ran off toward town.

---

Running so much eventually made him tired, and he slowed down and began walking slowly, taking in the sights of the busy city. As he came upon the local ramen bar, he spotted a familiar hunched over figure and slid onto the stool next to her. She warily smiled at him; she wasn't sure if the strange effects of the Red Bull had worn off yet.

Hinata got her answer quickly, for almost as soon as he had sat down, he grabbed the bowl of noodles she was still in the process of eating and dumped the contents on the ground beside him.

Hinata gazed forlornly at her spilled meal, and then looked up at the offender, who had proceeded to plop her empty bowl on his head, making him look creepily like Rock Lee.

Hinata tentatively reached out and plucked the dish from atop his head, and tried desperately to think of a way to calm him down.

Maybe if she could get the boy to lie down he would calm a bit…

She gently started to lead him over to a nearby street bench, herding him like a sheep. But, her attempt was to no avail, as a blur was all that was seen as Shino disappeared from the girl's side.

No, he hadn't tried to run away; Shino had been brutally tackled from his right side, knocking the wind out of him and hitting the pavement hard, so much so that it made his ever-present glasses bounce off of his face.

He shut his eyes tightly, and started gasping for air. He didn't have to open his eyes to identify his attacker; he smelled the scent of dog.

Kiba, who apparently had gotten over his initial shock at his living room's demise, straddled the stomach of the flat-on-his-back glassesless boy, glowering at him.

A squealing fangirl (Sasuke's not the only one who has them) popped up from nowhere and started taking pictures of Shino's bare visage. But Hinata, the bane of fangirls everywhere, chased her away, leaving the two boys alone.

Well, in a way. They were in the middle of the street, after all.

Shino eyes were irritated from the blinding flash that had managed to penetrate his eyelids, and he blinked profusely, but so quickly that Kiba didn't get a glance at his eyes, for when he was done blinking, he clamped his eyes back shut, barring Kiba from stealing a look at his eyes.

Kiba forgot temporarily that he was supposed to be angry, and instead became filled with curiosity. He attempted to pry the boy's eyelids open, but had no luck in this, and Shino's eyes remained firmly closed.

Kiba glared, and then, remembering why he was mad, jabbed his finger onto the tackled boy's chest furiously.

"You're not getting away that easily. You're going to pay for what you did to my roof!" Kiba growled.

Shino let out girlish, high-pitched scream, and with his eyes still closed, he roughly shoved his friend off, leapt up, and grabbed his glasses in one fluid motion.

He hastily placed his glasses back to their usual resting spot on the bridge of his nose, and took off running to get away from the fuming boy who had unceremoniously fallen to the ground.

Kiba was left alone with his anger, and a shinning raindrop fell daintily on the fuming boy's cheek, a playful warning of the storm to come. It started zig-zagging along, making a path down to his chin.

He narrowed his eyes, wiping the moisture hastily off of his face, and swore loudly to the empty air.

It would prove difficult to locate the elusive bug-master in the rain, with his scent being washed away. He doubted that even if Akamaru was with him he could do it.

But he wouldn't give up. He would get his money, or force the boy the fix it himself, hyped up on Red Bull or no.

As the ground became spotted with specks of rain, Kiba headed in vaguely the same direction Shino had run screaming to.

---

Shino had jumped slightly at the first drops of rain, and quickly jerked his head around for shelter. He spotted a broad-limbed tree nearby, and skipped over to it. He stood quietly under it for a moment, and then a thought struck him: You weren't supposed to stand under trees in a storm.

So, Shino decided that instead of standing under it, he would climb the tree and stay nestled in its many branches.

Once settled into his lofty perch, Shino could see a certain pissed-off boy walking nearby and muttering to himself about needing to squish a certain bug that wouldn't die.

Shino giggled giddily to himself as he devised a plan so cunning you could stick sharingan on it and call it Itachi (2). He rubbed his hands together gleefully with an evil glint in his eyes.

Apparently Kiba hadn't heard of the whole, "stand under a tree in a storm if you want to get struck by lightning" thing, so when the rain became to come down harder, he swore to the sky a second time that day, and ran under the tree that housed the devious Shino.

The only warning he received was a mischievous cackle directly above him before he was the recipient of a pouncing Shino on his head.

Kiba fell down with a grunt from the impact, and Shino fumbled to get his balance after his leap, and once it was regained, he proceeded to tickle the still dazed dog-boy mercilessly.

As it turned out, of course, Kiba was hopelessly ticklish.

"S-Stop i-i-it," he managed to choke out with a twisted smile while gasping for air.

Both boys were now drenched in the rain and Shino complied with Kiba's request by stopping the tickling, but instead wrapped his arms around the boy in a ferocious hug. He snuggled his face into the neck of the other boy's furry coat and, with a sigh, inhaled deeply.

Kiba opened his mouth in shock and his eyes went wide. Shino noticed in passing as he pulled away that the boy was developing a frequently used ability to imitate a fish.

And then, fully detaching himself from Kiba, another thought occurred to him and he scrunched up his nose and cringed his face.

"Wet dog smell…"

He then allowed his face to go lax, replacing his usual stoic mask, and he simply walked away, still getting rained on, with his hands in his pocket and whistling a tune lightly.

He slopped thought the mud until it became paved road, and he ambled down it, kicking a rock along, still feeling carefree.

The wind was picking up now, and when it mixed with the rain, it was very unpleasant. A wet leaf hit his face with a squishy smack, and Shino shut his eyes and peeled the thing off with disgust.

But as he did so, he felt his body revolt in protest to the movement, and he spasmed and fell to his knees. His hands were on the ground and his head was hanging limply on top of his shoulders. He knew what this entailed.

It was the consequence of drinking that doubled edged sword, that damn beloved juice. He was going to crash, and crash soon.

He felt a tiny hand on his back, and he managed to lift his head. It was a little girl, holding up a pink kitty umbrella over his head and wearing a worried expression on her face.

"Mister, are you ok?" the little girl asked.

A woman was walking nearby, talking to herself unknowingly. When she realized that her daughter was not beside her anymore, she snapped her head around to see the child sheltering a boy from the rain.

She thought this was sweet, and reflected that it must be her good influence on the girl. But when the boy struggled to raise his head and she could see who it actually was, all traces of those thoughts were banished from her mind.

"Akane! Get away from him NOW!" she screamed in panic. The little girl rushed over to her mother, scared.

"What's wrong, mummy?" she asked, voice full of the innocence of the young. The mother gathered her child to her side and walked as fast as she could away from the fallen boy.

"He's not human," she whispered hurriedly, "He's a disgusting Aburame who has bugs living inside of him." The woman, the most recent of the many who had wounded Shino with their words, kept rushing the little girl, and soon they were out of sight.

Shino felt his body go fully devoid of strength at this last comment, his arms useless and weak as they stopped supporting his weight and he crashed down face-first onto the hard road. His hot tears mixed with the wind-cooled rain as he let out a heart-wrenching sob.

---

Back at the tree, Kiba was still giving fish impressions, with his butt planted firmly in the mud, in response to the cuddly hug from a guy who usually went out of his way to avoid any physical contact with people. His mind was whirling, working overtime to form a coherent thought.

He finally found one, in the form a nagging in mind that he was supposed to be hunting Shino down. He couldn't quite grasp why, but he knew that's what he had to do. He got up, his backside thoroughly covered in mud, and trudged to the road he faintly remembered Shino going down.

The rain greatly impaired his vision because it was falling so hard, but he still managed to find the boy quickly. Kiba's heart clenched at the sight before him.

Shino was laying face down in the middle of the road, sobbing uncontrollably.

Kiba sat down cross-legged next to his friend, uncertain of what to do. After some, ok, a lot, of internal debating, he gathering the limp boy into his lap and put his arms around him awkwardly.

Shino, recognizing the now familiar wet-dog smell, realized it was his friend, and rubbed his eyes vigorously, attempting to wipe his tears away, and in the process of doing so, knocked his glasses off. He continued his ferocious wiping of his eyes, but all Kiba did was pat his back comfortingly.

"It's ok," he mumbled, pulling the boy's head to his chest, "It's ok."

Tears sprang anew out of Shino eyes despite his best efforts to keep them in, and he gave in to the boy's warm touch, and began bawling again.

He started the incoherent rambling that crying people often do, and Kiba didn't understand most of it, but one thing caught his attention: "…more… than bugs… inside…"

"Don't worry, I know that…" Kiba attempted to comfort Shino.

Kiba reached out and lifted Shino's head by his chin, and their bare eyes met for the first time.

The dog-boy let out a gasp.

Perfect light brown orbs, with a slightly darker brown surrounding them, gazed up at him, still filled with tears.

"W-what?" Shino murmured, shifting his gaze away from the fiercely intent one of the other boy.

As the rain poured down and lightning flashed disturbingly close, Kiba hugged the boy in his lap with all of his strength.

And, after a moment's shock, Shino returned the fierce embrace that gave him so much warmth and comfort.

**Story Notes:**

**(1) I'm not sure about the other forms of Naruto, but the Flying Leeches of Konoha appear in the English version of the manga in the Forest of Death part of the Chuunin Exams.**

**(2) This comes from, "I have a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel." Which according to a reviewer who was so kind to tell me (Thank you, Calm Serene!), is from the show Blackadder and was said by the character Baldrick. And since Itachi's name means weasel, I had fun with this little saying. **

**Author's Notes: **

**In case you were wondering, this is pre-time skip.**

**And I'm sorry for excluding Akamaru from the larger part of this particular story.**

Updated: 3/27/09


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